When writing a cover letter to send to a prospective employer, keep in mind that your reader may be pressed for time. So you should aim to write a concise, but thorough, cover letter. You may wonder how being both concise and thorough at the same time is possible. Think of this task as giving a lengthy explanation in as few words as possible. Tell your reader as much about yourself as you can, but don't make your reader wade through extra words and unnecessary details. Consider the following example:

I am a person who believes that the values of fervent dedication, cooperative teamwork, dynamic leadership, and adaptive creativity really make up the cornerstones and are the crucial components of any totally successful sales venture.

Yuck. Revised using concise, but thorough, language, the same sentence can now read:

Dedication, teamwork, leadership, and creativity are essential to successful sales.

Remember: Use short, simple words, sentences, and paragraphs. Avoid cramming too many ideas into each paragraph. Logically break long paragraphs into several short ones. And use simple, direct language to get your point across.